Fortune bounces Cornwall's way

Kingston — Cornwall's Mike O'Rourke looked through the heavy rain drops and the lights and picked up the punt that was falling toward his arms.

Kingston — Cornwall's Mike O'Rourke looked through the heavy rain drops and the lights and picked up the punt that was falling toward his arms.

His one thought?

"Don't drop it," O'Rourke said. "And then I dropped it. But I got the luckiest bounce of my life."

Footballs bounced in crazy directions all night off the slippery Dietz Stadium turf. But on O'Rourke's fumble, in a scoreless game midway through the fourth quarter, the football did something even crazier.

It bounced right back up into his hands.

Then he took off running, and returned the kick 35 yards to the Port Jervis 6-yard line. Two plays later, Ray Wroten's 4-yard touchdown run put Cornwall on the board.

Wroten added a late rushing touchdown and Cornwall blanked Port Jervis 13-0 in the Section 9 Class A semifinals.

"They have our number. That's pretty much it," O'Rourke said. "We're lucky to escape two tight games that if things didn't go all our way, we could have lost."

"It's Port," Cornwall coach Marcus Hughes said. "Sometimes, there's just that team that gives you trouble. They just played tough."

Cornwall (9-0), the state's second-ranked Class A team, needed overtime to beat Port Jervis 12-6 during the regular season. Yesterday, with the game still scoreless, Port Jervis missed three-field goal chances — including from 21 and 23 yards.

"You can't play a team that's this good, get those opportunities and not cash in," Port Jervis coach Bob Corvino said. "But we were ready to play football."

Cornwall moves on to the Class A title game, where it will play Wallkill at 8 p.m. Friday at Dietz Stadium. Wallkill beat Rondout Valley 20-19 in the other semifinal game yesterday.

Cornwall is the two-time defending champion, and has won three of the last four titles. Cornwall beat Wallkill 39-0 last week.

"I think we've got a good chance to go all the way this year," Wroten said. "We've got a good team."

Both teams clearly were affected by the rain, which made it tough to throw the ball. Five hours' worth of rain also left the artificial turf slick, and made it tough for the kids to keep their footing.

Port Jervis (5-4) drove 13 plays on its first possession and had a first-and-goal from the Cornwall 3. After losing 2 yards over the next three plays, Steve Butler came on for a 21-yard field goal. But a high snap was mishandled, and Butler never got the kick off.

Corvino wouldn't say if this was his last game. He nearly retired last year, and said as much after losing to Cornwall in this game last year. He has coached 35 years at Port Jervis, 24 as varsity coach. His record is 161-69-1, and he is the winningest coach in school history.